Present and former LIAT pilots have hit out at one of the shareholder government leaders of the airline over recent remarks he made concerning the workers’ roles in the company’s collapse.The administrators of the Leeward Islands Airlines Pilots Association (LIALPA) are protesting comments made by St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, that the staff are to blame for the airline’s demise.“The Leeward Islands Airlines Pilots Association (LIALPA) is disappointed and saddened by the unfortunate comments made by the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and Grenadines, The Honourable Dr. Ralph Gonsalves recently in the media,” said the association in a statement issued on Monday. “You have been silent for virtually two years and in your first address, you found it most fitting to chastise the workers in their time of need. We view the notion that the workers are to be blamed for the failure of the airline as inaccurate and a cheap shot,” LIALPA declared.The pilots contended that the airline has always been “tumultuous” for reasons beyond the staff’s control.
